Bearfoot Posted January 18, 2017 Posted January 18, 2017 I do not have a pit setup, but I do have a center-mounted stick. Which means I have to reach across the stick to hit the keyboard. Really messes up the TrackIR during start up (weird bug that if I am leaned forward as I spawn, I never quite get the right view). More to the point, it always kills immersion when I have to look around to find the mouse and/or keyboard (find switch I want to hit, look for and reach for mouse, realize view has shifted etc etc). So, I decided to try this as solution: Jelly Comb Mini Wireless Handheld Remote Control Bluetooth Touchpad Keyboard https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B012IAT4WY/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Keep it on my lap, and it's right there without needing me to look around. Touchpad is small, but is sufficiently large for the required movements for switchology. The keyboard allows me to trigger everything --- maybe not quite without looking down always. Reason I chose this above other models (e.g., https://www.amazon.com/Bluetooth-Keyboard-Touchpad-Android-QQ-Tech/dp/B00BALK9CM) is the dedicated function keys. Just thought I would share this approach with the community, and it might serve useful for those VR-heads as well as TrackIR folks. 1
JG14_Smil Posted January 19, 2017 Posted January 19, 2017 TIR toggle is the most used button in my HOTAS. Simply toggle the TIR when you look around in or out of the sim. You should not be fighting the TIR so much. Take some time and experiment with the settings. Make it do exactly what you want.
Pikey Posted January 19, 2017 Posted January 19, 2017 I used one of those to cover a section of not commonly used buttons and throw the keyboard away (it was folded back for flight behind my obutto rigs lower monitor) Have to be careful with some of these mini keyboards that it supports the various odd keyboard modifiers. Like having both ALT keys and windows and numpad/special keys. So what you say is very valid/important for the post. I have that bug too, but im not sure its caused by leaning anywhere, but i'm not sure. I've never liked pausing TIR, i find it makes my head feel disjointed. If it's working properly you can hold your head perfectly still anyway. If it's not, you need to fix that. But leaning around for mouse is the VR pain in the ars3 and same for my centre mounted stick in TIR. It's a great post. I do not have a pit setup, but I do have a center-mounted stick. Which means I have to reach across the stick to hit the keyboard. Really messes up the TrackIR during start up (weird bug that if I am leaned forward as I spawn, I never quite get the right view). More to the point, it always kills immersion when I have to look around to find the mouse and/or keyboard (find switch I want to hit, look for and reach for mouse, realize view has shifted etc etc). So, I decided to try this as solution: Jelly Comb Mini Wireless Handheld Remote Control Bluetooth Touchpad Keyboard https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B012IAT4WY/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Keep it on my lap, and it's right there without needing me to look around. Touchpad is small, but is sufficiently large for the required movements for switchology. The keyboard allows me to trigger everything --- maybe not quite without looking down always. Reason I chose this above other models (e.g., https://www.amazon.com/Bluetooth-Keyboard-Touchpad-Android-QQ-Tech/dp/B00BALK9CM) is the dedicated function keys. Just thought I would share this approach with the community, and it might serve useful for those VR-heads as well as TrackIR folks. 1 ___________________________________________________________________________ SIMPLE SCENERY SAVING * SIMPLE GROUP SAVING * SIMPLE STATIC SAVING *
Bearfoot Posted January 19, 2017 Author Posted January 19, 2017 TIR toggle is the most used button in my HOTAS. Simply toggle the TIR when you look around in or out of the sim. You should not be fighting the TIR so much. Take some time and experiment with the settings. Make it do exactly what you want. Thanks. Yes, I, too, use TIR pause. And, yes, it works. But I am sharing the mini-keyboard-with-touchpad-that-sits-on-your-lap here because it works BETTER, for me. YMMV ;)
Bearfoot Posted January 19, 2017 Author Posted January 19, 2017 Have to be careful with some of these mini keyboards that it supports the various odd keyboard modifiers. Like having both ALT keys and windows and numpad/special keys. Yes, this is definitely an issue. Also, the touch pad does not offer as wide-variety of useful gestures as a "real" touchpad. But all in all, still a much better physical UI than what I had before :)
FeistyLemur Posted January 19, 2017 Posted January 19, 2017 I have center mount stick woes as well. Which are even more of a problem now with my new stick as I have to sit even farther from the desk rendering the keyboard totally useless. I was thinking of several options. One is the Obutto Revolution keyboard tray is sold separate, so it could be mounted to a standard chair with a bracket. The other is just getting a beanbag lapdesk and using it with a wireless keyboard to avoid having to move the stick out at all to get back to the desk for normal use. This doesn't help for simming. Another was using a usb numpad as a kneeboard, which is admittedly very limited. I had tried using a logitech G13 similarly but I never did like those because of the limited keys and non standard layout (the extra thumbstick is nice though) I will consider one of these now too. I definitely need a full keyboard in chair solution though, I'm tired of moving my stick out of the way and unplugging it to switch to other games or desktop use.
Bearfoot Posted January 19, 2017 Author Posted January 19, 2017 I have center mount stick woes as well. Which are even more of a problem now with my new stick as I have to sit even farther from the desk rendering the keyboard totally useless. ... Yes! That desktop keyboard is sooooo far away that reaching for it completely throws off my game! Thanks for pointing out the Obutto Revolution keyboard tray. Before I decided to give the mini-keyboard a try, I was looking all over the place for a simply stand-alone adjustable-height keyboard tray. The idea being I could get in behind the stick and flip the tray over my lap. Found nothing suitable, and, after some silly experiments with a 2-by-4 pretend tray, I realized that it would end up obstructing my stick aft deflection! Another thing I considered was somehow trying to setup my tablet to be a remote touchpad and keyboard for the desktop, and then using a tablet kneeboard like this (http://www.myclipforipad.com/kneeboard.php) to secure it to my lap. Did not look into doing this in any detail, because the minikeyboard solution came my way first ... Appreciate you sharing your woes! And if you come across a better solution, please let me/us know!
FeistyLemur Posted January 19, 2017 Posted January 19, 2017 I've searched and searched for a solution. Ergotron makes really awesome monitor arms, one of which I have, and they do make a keyboard arm as well. But, their stuff is absurdly priced. I payed $200 for the monitor arm, which admittedly is awesome and frees the entire desk surface. Their keyboard arm however is stupid, it's over $300 here. The obutto keyboard arm is only $99 even in Canada, just the mounting solution also requires fabrication to make it happen on a standard office chair. It's probably going to cost another $20-50 to get someone to fabricate a steel mount for it that would be compatible with a standard chair. DX racer sells a tablet mount for their chairs that could be adapted to a keyboard, but, again absurd price.
TheFace Posted January 19, 2017 Posted January 19, 2017 So this is possibly a solution as well. I am looking at this for when or if I move from a side-stick to a center stick setup.
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